Govt asked to give full support to coastal dists for drinking water

Govt asked to give full support to coastal dists for drinking water

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, April 19, 2016: Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake, spoke to reporters in Udupi, after the quarterly KDP meeting, said that temporary measures are taken to curb the problem of water scarcity in the coastal districts. “Besides, long-term plans are chalked out to ensure better drinking water facilities. Up to 95 percent of the projects are completed and Rs 2.5 crore is released under task force.

The government has been requested for special consideration for the coastal districts under drinking water schemes. Multi-village drinking water scheme is implemented in many places. The urban areas will get Rs 1.20 crore and Udupi city will receive Rs 75 lakh. Tanker water is offered to 21 villages in the district – 10 each in Udupi and Kundapur and one village in Karkala,” explained Sorake.

Pointing out the action taken to tackle the sand scarcity in the district, the minister said that manual sand mining activities would begin from April 20. “Thirty sand blocks are identified for mining, which will go on for another one month but is banned in monsoon. A request is made to the government to give special considerations to use sand extracted in the district within the district,” he added.

Sorake said that there are 73,794 hectares of deemed forest land, which includes Kumki and Parambuku land. The proposal is sent to the government to consider exempting 34,918 hectares of land (which includes 5,208 hectares of Kumki land) from the purview of the deemed forest area.

The minister added that Kundapur and Udupi are involved under ADB scheme, which covers drinking water and underground drainage projects. “The funds from Amruth scheme, KUDSEMP and German aid would be spent on the projects. Tender would be called by June. Funds of Rs 7.48 crore are released under Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, under which, 5,156 toilets are built and 19 villages are covered under solid waste management project. Every village is given Rs 26 lakh under Gram Vikas Yojane. Five villages are selected in each Assembly constituency,” he explained.

He also said that, under the Namma Grama Namma Rasthe scheme, 20 kilometres of roads would be repaired at a cost of Rs 21 crore. Besides, 90 kilometres of roads will be taken up under City Road Improvement Project (CRIP). Funds of Rs 75 crore are released for the purpose and tendering process is underway.

The tourism projects are promoted in the district. The construction work on ports at Gangolli and Koderi is commenced. Work worth Rs 80 crore to construct a protection wall against the sea under the ADB scheme is initiated, and Rs three crore is released for each taluk, said Sorake.